Two International Finance Center

Two International Finance Center ; 國際金融中心二期
	Two IFC - Night View, 2008
Basic data
Place:	8 Finance Street, ; Central, Hong Kong , China;
Construction time :	2000-2003
Status :	Built
Architectural style :	Postmodern
Architect :	César Pelli & Association Architects ; Rocco Design Architects
Use / legal
Usage :	office
Technical specifications
Height :	412 m
Height to the top:	415.4 m
Height to the roof:	407 m
Top floor:	387 m
Rank (height) :	2nd place (Hong Kong)
Floors :	88 (+6 basement floors)
Elevators :	62
Usable area :	185,805 m²
Building material :	Steel (structure) , ; reinforced concrete (structure) , ; glass (facade) , ; aluminum (facade)

The Two International Finance Center , or Two IFC for short ( Chinese 國際金融中心二期 / 国际金融中心二期 , Pinyin Guójì Jīnróng Zhōngxīn Èrqī , Jyutping Gwok ³ zai ³ Gam ¹ jung ⁴ Zung ¹ sam ¹ Ji ⁶ kei ⁴ ) at Finance Street and Man Po Street is a skyscraper in Hong Kong , in the Central district . Its foundation stone was laid in 2000, and after three years of construction, it was opened in 2003. With an official height of 412 meters, the skyscraper is currently the second tallest building in Hong Kong after the International Commerce Center (484 meters).

description

At 412 meters, it is only five meters lower than the former World Trade Center in New York (417 meters, but with an antenna 527 meters). Floors 14 and 24 were left out because the numbers in Chinese - more precisely: Cantonese - sound homophonic like “you will die for sure” or “die easily” and thus promise bad luck in the Chinese culture of Hong Kong. The building has a total area of 185,805 m². This means that the building actually has 86 floors, even if some sources speak of 88 floors.

2 IFC, as it is also known, is the second tallest building in Hong Kong after the 484-meter-high International Commerce Center , which was completed in 2010. From 2003 to 2010 it was the tallest skyscraper in the city.

The building is one of the few that uses double-deck lifts. However, these are only used by employees. An exception is the 55th floor, which is accessible to visitors free of charge and houses an exhibition on the history of the Hong Kong dollar . The HKMA , Hong Kong's Monetary Office, is also located on the top floor of the building.

From October to November 2003 there was an advertising poster around 230 meters high on the facade of the building, which covered around 50 floors. This poster from the Financial Times , HSBC and Cathay Pacific was the largest ever seen on a skyscraper.

Even before its completion, 2 IFC was shown on film and television. In the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003), Angelina Jolie and her partner jump out of the top floor with wingsuits on.

Together with the smaller twin building 1 IFC , Four Seasons Place and the Four Seasons Hotel , this building complex forms the financial center of Hong Kong and, together with Union Square Phase 7, serves as the gateway to Victoria Harbor .